who am i?

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Between the Pigs and the Christ...

I walk into the dominion
theatre, home of the ‘we will rock you‘ show… in the foyer, different people
from different nationalities are being served glasses of bubbly sparkly wine in
flutes, we drink and wait for the doors to open… the grape fruit taste great! O,
no… It’s not champagne, but hey, it sparkles.

I get a seat nearer to the
stage. Skinny jeans, long hair, rock stars… light, camera, action… the band
plays, they rock. The man in front of me with tattoo laden arms raises his
hands up in the air (not like he just don’t care) it’s all in surrender because
he just does care… we are gathered together in no other name… Jesus!

The venue doesn’t make it a ‘heathen’ gathering, the man with the
tattoo is not turned away, he’s raising his hands in worship. The men and
ladies on the stage in skinny jeans are not judged, they are singing and
stirring up an incense of worship so great, you feel the presence of God, it’s
not how good the music is, or how well the guitarist is… its all about the name
of Jesus being worshiped. Its about raising a resurgence in the Spirits of the
people gathered… be revived, be renewed, rise again as Christ was raised, and
live the life of fulfillment that Christ brought to you.

Its about the call of salvation
and the number of people who surrender after each message to the name of Jesus,
those who come eagerly to the place where they drop their strong will with open
hearts for him to fill it in and take over… It’s about the raising of prayer
request and the church praying as a family for different needs, it’s about the
testimonies being read out.

If a spiked haired man comes
into certain churches, or a skinny jean-wearing girl or guy… she/he will be
judged out of the church.

It’s church in the wild! And
the crazies are running in.

Now this scene will be
frowned at and condemned by a good number of preachers and people. Forget the
glaring fact that I mentioned people getting saved and Jesus being exalted. A
lady in church wearing trousers? And she leads worship? What the critics see
are the skinny jeans and tattoos on the stage. They don’t see the lives that
are being changed, the drug dealers that are lured in only to be embraced in
their tattoos and the love of God breaks their defenses.

‘They landed in the country of the Gadarenes and were met by
two madmen, victims of demons, coming out of the cemetery. The men had
terrorized the region for so long that no one considered it safe to walk down
that stretch of road anymore. Seeing Jesus, the madmen screamed out, “What
business do you have giving us a hard time? You’re the Son of God! You weren’t
supposed to show up here yet!” Off in the distance a herd of pigs was browsing
and rooting. The evil spirits begged Jesus, “If you kick us out of these men,
let us live in the pigs.”

Jesus said, “Go ahead, but get out of here!” Crazed, the
pigs stampeded over a cliff into the sea and drowned. Scared to death, the
swineherds bolted. They told everyone
back in town what had happened to the madmen and the pigs. Those who heard about
it were angry about the drowned pigs. A mob formed and demanded that Jesus
get out and not come back’. Mttw
8:28-34(MSG)

Jesus delivered a man from
such torment, and all the people were concerned about were the pigs. Same way He
healed on the Sabbath day and all the people were concerned about was the
Sabbath day. We’re so blinded by picking out faults that we refuse to see the
glory, and the name of Jesus being lifted. Sometimes half of the message of
some preachers/people is about ridiculing the other denominations and how the
other person does church. We’re all so worried about the pigs; we’re not
looking at the glory that came before the pigs drowned.

I believe there are a group
of people the deeper life ministry were called to reach that no other denomination
would get to, as with mountain of fire and the word of faith ministries.

So what if a pastor has Jerry
curls? Is the true gospel being preached? Are lives changed? Are the sick
healed?

I’m not one to shun a church invite
because it isn’t my church… If my
Spirit agrees with me, I go and I have a great time. I’ve attended churches
where I don’t hundred percent agree with some rules… but I don’t let the drowned pigs distract me from Jesus and
the wonders of His name in that church.

The fact that you don’t like
the lifestyle of some preachers isn’t a reason to stop doing church all
together. The fact that you think some preachers are extravagant is not reason
enough to stop paying your tithes.

Don’t being so concerned and
angry about the pigs that you drive Jesus out/write off some ministries or stop
going to church or stop practicing some biblical principles. Let the pigs
drown, having Christ in your midst is worth more than the lost pigs that get
you angry.